What does Roger Draper know about passion in Tennis, he sat through 3 days of enthralling and exciting British Tennis at the Braehead last weekend in an arena where the roof was in danger of lifting off with for the most part an impassive, and bored expression. He rarely put his hands together and was one of very few still in his seat when Dan Evans pulled off the unbeleivable. Leadership HA! thank goodness for Leon Smith, Judy Murray and as much as I hate to admit it Greg Rusedski.

Roger Draper is a waste of good air. He's a quick-fix man, a faker, trying to get short-term results at the sharp end, when he should be trying to build the base of the pyramid.

Thanks for the article Philip. Nice to see some positivity for a change and to be reminded that in British tennis life does now exist beyond Andy.

After-thought ... why should the fact that Dan Evans is a mere 5'9" make a difference? David Ferrer is the same height, and Kei Nishikori is an inch taller, yet both have done pretty well for themselves. It certainly didn't affect Dan's performance at Braehead!

Josh Ward-Hibbert has finally broken cover. The Nottingham teenager was little discussed until he stormed through the boys' singles, knocking over the eighth and ninth seeds before going out in the quarters to the Canadian Filip Peliwo – who went on to lose in Saturday's final to the Australian Luke Saville, now a two-times winner here.

Ward-Hibbert, 6ft 4in with a booming serve and as yet untamed forehand and a delightful single-handed backhand, looks to have the tools to make it as a professional. One seasoned Brit-prospect-watcher (a thankless task) said: "He has everything. He is built like Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, is a great athlete and plays with such energy and power."

Another reason you might notice the personable young man with the big game and easy smile is he is one of the few black juniors coming through.

On Friday, he made up for his disappointment in the singles by teaming up with the better-known Liam Broady to win the boys' doubles title. Seeded six, they won comfortably, 6-3, 6-2 in 44 minutes, against Filip Veger and Adam Pavlasek. (The Czech Pavlasek has an older girlfriend: the Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.)

Ward-Hibbert is still an innocent in an exciting world, undecided whether to go on the Tour this summer or go to college in the United States later in the year. He will decide in March.

"I'm 18, come from Nottingham. I have been training in Spain [at the Sotogrande academy on the Costa del Sol, run by the former British doubles No1 Dan Kiernan]. I try to play aggressively. That's the only way I'm going to be able to go far in the game. I started with a single-handed backhand, I guess it's just habit and I work on it the best I can."

It is his serving that most easily catches the eye. "At Wimbledon, I got the junior record with 131mph. Pretty quick.

"I started at the Nottingham tennis centre, when I was about 13. I went to Spain when I was about 14 and I am at Soto full time. It's fantastic. I played a bit of basketball when I was younger but tennis was always my first sport. I was just better at it.

"I am trying to keep my options open, don't want to close any door. There's a chance I might be going into the American college system. It's a chance to get some great coaching. After four years there, I would come out of that and go on Tour. But I will see how it goes. I'm going to make a decision around March or a bit later. It starts in September this year.

"Obviously there's school involved but, for me, it's about improving my game over four years. I don't have a game that's going to peak at a younger age, so I've got to be patient. It would be easier on my parents, financially, too – and a high level of tennis."

For now, it's back to Nottingham to see his family (the hyphen comes from his mother and father, who kept their surnames). "Neither of them plays. My brother, Matthew, started and that's how I got into it. Not many hyphens on the tennis circuit. Hopefully, there will be one soon.

"I am out a lot but I try to get home as much as I can. It's tough but I don't get too homesick when I'm away for a long time.

"When I was a kid, I loved to see Federer play – Monfils and Tsonga too. Great entertainers. But I also like how Berdych plays, kind of big. He knows what he can do. I've walked by Federer a few times [here]. Tried to get eye contact. Got a little smile but he didn't really recognise me. Maybe some day he will. Hopefully on the other side of the net."

From what I have seen, tennis is a physical game and is a young man's sport with the best time being between 20 to 28. If W-H wants to reach the top, then I am afraid to say that he needs to forego his education and works on his tennis like Andy did. By competing on tour, and constant training to hone his stamina and skills, would he be able to reach the pinnacle of the game.

Yes, Isner is a good example of someone who successfully came through the American College system. I always think he is younger than he is though because he hasn't been on tour as long as many of his contemporaries. Difficult choice to make for W-H.

At 18, the player might not be ready physically, mentally or maybe even technically or emotionally to play full time on the professional tour. College/uni gives 4 years to develop each of these areas and I believe at college/uni they spend just about as much time (if not the same amount of time) training for tennis as they do on their actual workfor their degree.

Though if the player feels that they and their game is ready for full time for professional tennis then they probably should skip college/uni.

Thanks Allan for that information. If they spend just as much time on tennis then the only thing the player loses is experience/developing mental toughness from playing on the tour. In that case, University is a good alternative and provides a decent back up in case tennis doesn't work out.

In a way Andy has been doing something similar over the last 2 weeks where he has been waking up at 7:00 and training for the whole day and then goes to sleep at 9:30 p.m. Much more focused training and now he can employ what he has integrated into his matches. The other advantage of the tour is getting to know your opponents, identify winning patterns of play, and weeding out your weaknesses and earning ranking points to move up the ranking table. It took Andy about 2 to 3 years to get into the top 20. Once you are higher ranked, you can play in MS and GS to earn big points and you can avoid the higher ranked players until the later rounds which is a big bonus.

Thanks Allan for that information. If they spend just as much time on tennis then the only thing the player loses is experience/developing mental toughness from playing on the tour. In that case, University is a good alternative and provides a decent back up in case tennis doesn't work out.